


looking up from underneath

by valkyriered



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Family, Family Dynamics, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Multi, Possessive Behavior, Smoking, idk how to tag any of these things ill just add as we go along lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:35:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25969003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyriered/pseuds/valkyriered
Summary: A collection of short works, some that came from tumblr prompts. Will contain manga spoilers and mature themes.
Relationships: Sohma Hatori/Sohma Shigure, Sohma Rin & Sohma Shigure
Kudos: 18





	1. shigure & rin, directly post-cats room

prompt from Anonymous:

> Can I please request a fic on Shigure's thoughts or psyche when he found out Akito locked up Rin?

* * *

“In the Cat’s room?” Shigure asks quietly. The children are still in the house, and the phone in the hallway has never been good for private conversations. Ideally he would see Hatori face-to-face, but Hatori is at the hospital.

“Yes.” Hatori says. There’s a pause, and then, “You should come see her.”

Shigure closes his eyes. “I’m one of the last people she wants to see. Call Ha-kun.”

“He needs some time to cool down.”

“Did something happen?”

“He was a little rough with Akito. They’re both fine.”

“Ah.” Shigure says. It’s not difficult to put the pieces together. Even a Jyuunishi is capable of rebellion when they’re pushed too far to the edge, and Haru is no exception. In fact, if there is one way to get him to raise a hand against his God, Rin is absolutely it.

“Did you know?” Hatori asks. His voice is tinny over the phone, but Shigure can hear the accusation in it.

“I knew as much as you did, Ha-san.”

Which is to say, neither knew, but they _suspected_. Hatori had been Rin’s doctor from childhood, the mere fact that she was hospitalized in an unknown location was suspicious. But as Jyuunishi, they didn’t— _couldn’t_ — question. It would be a dangerous thing to do. Perhaps Hatori suspected less, but he always had much more faith in Akito than she deserved.

“Is she alright?” Shigure asks.

“She’s starving.” Hatori says. “And disoriented.”

“She was there the whole time she was missing?”

“Yes.”

“Three months, then.” Shigure says.

Three months. Alone, in darkness, for three months. Shigure has no doubts about what being in the cats room was like for Rin. Despite the front she puts up she has always been emotionally fragile. Her flashbacks are debilitating. Shigure is deeply familiar with the way her eyes will glaze over, however briefly, and then she’ll flinch back into the present whenever she’s done replaying her latest horrific memory. He’s seen how she covers her face and curls herself into a ball when she cries, like she’s afraid he’ll hurt her for being upset.

He wonders how deeply this latest nightmare will scar her. He wonders if she’ll be able to come back from something like this, or if the world has finally succeeded in crushing her spirit.

“I’ll see her.” Shigure says. “Once she’s feeling better.”

Hatori doesn’t say anything, but Shigure can feel the silent judgement over the phone.

Perhaps he thinks Shigure’s being a coward by refusing to see what Akito did to her outright. He’d had a hard time looking at her after her fall, as well. To see his lovers handiwork laid into her skin. All of this, evidence of how deeply Akito had been consumed by the curse as well.

“Alright, then.” Hatori says. “See that you do.”

“Goodnight, Ha-san.”

“Goodnight.”

Shigure hangs up the phone.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to see Rin.

In fact, he’d like to see her. He wants to confirm for himself that she’s alive and breathing, especially after not seeing her for three months. Thinking back, it may be the longest he’s ever gone without seeing her since she was born.

But if she’s disoriented, it would do no good for her to see him. Shigure knows that she thinks of him as on Akito’s ‘side’— one of the favored Jyuunishi, however untrue that may be. Coming fresh off the trauma of three months of being locked up by Akito, Shigure knows he’ll be unwelcome. That perhaps Rin will think he’s come to collect her, and return her to Akito’s side.

Seeing her is not worth sending her into that spiral.

Shigure would prefer not to make her cry.

He’ll see her later. When she’s feeling stronger, when she’s out of the hospital. Rin has suffered enough.

Perhaps for her he’ll even crack open his cold heart, and tell her a secret she asked him for a long time ago.


	2. hatori/shigure, sharing a cigarette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sex but it's sexy, so be aware of that.

from lilbeehive:

> yea what about shiitori & sharing cigarettes 😌😌😌

* * *

It’s hot out, and Shigure has pushed the shoji open to let in the barest bit of a breeze. The night is nearly deafening from the sounds of cicadas and crickets. Hatori and Shigure have forsaken all sense of propriety, and they’re lounging on the engawa with their yukata open to cool their skin.

They’ve had a bit to drink under the pretense of a nightcap, and Hatori finds that his eyes keep drifting to the flush on Shigure’s cheeks and the light sheen of sweat on his chest. The heat has his hair sticking to his forehead in a way that makes Hatori want to run his fingers through it and push it back. Shigure is sitting up, facing out towards the forest, and Hatori is laying beside him with his legs askew, his feet barely brushing against Shigure’s thigh. He has his head turned sideways to look out at the forest, but he sits up slightly when he hears the flick of a lighter. 

Hatori watches as Shigure lights a cigarette. The lighter briefly illuminates his face in a golden glow, and then darkens again as he snaps the lighter shut. Hatori watches him take a slow drag.

Shigure’s gaze slide over to Hatori. “Did you want one?” Shigure asks.

Hatori nods. He expects Shigure to shake another one out of the pack, but instead Shigure leans over to offer it to him. Hatori reaches out and takes it from him. They’ve shared cigarettes countless times, but this time he feels a quiet thrill that something that was between Shigure’s lips is now in his mouth. He takes a drag, and lets his head fall back to exhale the smoke. 

Hatori’s half-hard and he knows Shigure can see it through the fabric, but Shigure doesn’t say anything, just reaches over and idly rubs at Hatori’s leg in a move that’s probably supposed to be soothing. Hatori ashes the cigarette onto the forest floor and offers it back to Shigure.

He likes watching Shigure smoke. As a doctor he knows just how bad it is for him, for both of them, but he likes the way Shigure tilts his head, the movement of his throat and jaw, the casualness with which he lifts it to his lips.

As much as Hatori acts like the adult in their friendship, situations like this always make him feel much younger. There are countless ways in which Shigure is more experienced than himself. 

“Do you want more?” Shigure asks.

“No,” Hatori says. “You finish it.”

Shigure raises an eyebrow, then shrugs and goes back to smoking. Still, he keeps looking back over at Hatori.

There’s a silent promise in his eyes. Despite the heat, Hatori shivers.


	3. shigure & rin, at rin's birth

Prompt from Anonymous:

> Shigure at Rin's birth?

* * *

Shigure is nine when Isuzu is born.

Her mother doesn’t seem particularly interested in holding her, and so Isuzu is quickly handed off to him.

He’s the first man to hold her, the first Jyuunishi as well, and he takes that job very seriously. Inside the hospital room he can hear Hatori’s father conversing with Isuzu’s mother, but he doesn’t pay them any attention. 

Isuzu is small and perfect, and he can already feel the bond between them from the curse. He thinks that she can feel it as well, because when she’s placed in his arms she doesn’t cry at the unfamiliar touch.

Her eyes are large and dark, and she has black hair to match. 

Shigure was never particularly interested in babies before, but he feels a kinship with all the Jyuunishi, and the smallest ones are no exception. He knows the others feel it too-- Ayame and Hatori and even Kureno are beside him, all drawn by some force to attend the birth of the newest Jyuunishi.

Usually he wouldn’t get to hold her this long or this early. At this point, a nurse would typically come by and take the baby back. Ritsu and Kagura and Akito were all kept by their parents long after birth, and they were anxious to have them back after they’d been greeted by the Jyuunishi. 

Because that’s what this is, really.

A greeting.

“Hello.” Shigure says. “I’m Shigure.”

She blinks up at him, as though saying ‘hello’ in her own language. 

Shigure looks up at the sound of the Hatori’s father entering the hallway where the boys are seated with Isuzu. “Are you taking her back?” He asks.

He shakes his head. “She says you can have as long as you’d like with Isuzu.” He says, but there’s a look on his face as he says it that sets Shigure on-edge. “Be careful.” He says, before turning on his heel and walking down the hallway. 

Shigure looks up into the hospital room. Isuzu’s mother has her face in her hands. Isuzu’s father is leaning over her, has his hands on her back like he’s comforting her. They don’t look like a couple who has just had a child. 

They look like a couple who just lost one.

Shigure holds Isuzu a little closer. He looks back down at her perfect cheeks, at her dark eyes. 

“I’m Shigure.” He says to her again, very quietly. “I’ll take care of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr/send me prompts at valkyriered.tumblr.com :)  
> i (typically) only write scenes with my faves, so keep that in mind.


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